What is the significance of the 2nd Party System?

The major
significances of the Second Party System are that it was based largely on class lines and that
it helped to put off the sectional discontents that led to the Civil War.

In
general, this was a time in which the Democratic Party was the party of the people.  The other
party, the Whig Party, was generally the party of business interests.  These parties both had
strong followings in both the North and the South.  This made it so that the sectional
animosities were mitigated and did not become strong enough to break the country up for some
decades.